The patent to W. E. Milberger (a co-inventor of the present invention), U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,518, issued Jan. 10, 1984, and the U.S. Statutory Invention Registration No. H275, published May 5, 1987, inventors W. E. Milberger et al., both disclose field effect transistor (FET) pulse apparatus which provide high voltage pulses of short duration. The pulse apparatus of Reg. No. H275 was an improvement on that of the Milberger patent in that it provided higher voltage pulses of shorter duration. Moreover, it provided pulses of very fast "fall-time" at least equal to the turn on or "rise-time." The above-noted FET pulse apparatus have proved to be quite satisfactory for their intended uses, e.g., the transmitters of ECM systems and MMW (millimeter wave) radar systems. There are, however, other and different potential uses or applications wherein the noted FET modulators are particularly unsuited. More specifically, and by way of example, laser diode arrays for light pulse transmission purposes require high current (up to 100 amperes) at high pulse repetition rates or frequencies (PRFs up to 100 KHz). Neither of the above-noted references can provide the very high current needed to pulse modulate laser diode arrays at relatively high PRFs.
Prior art, high current, laser diode pulsers have employed (artificial) line type modulators which utilized avalanche devices (SCRs, thyratrons, PNPN diodes, etc.) to discharge the line. The long recovery time of these devices restricted the PRF at which the line type modulator could operate. Additionally, the difficulty of matching the line modulator to the laser diode load often resulted in pulse ringing and/or poor pulse fall time. Because of the PRF limitations of line modulators, the full diode laser average output power could never be realized at narrow pulse widths (20-50 nanoseconds).